Review Wednesday: Beautiful Sacrifice by Jamie McGuire

*This is a book meant for adults due to some inappropriate content for people younger than 18.*


Title: Beautiful Sacrifice (Maddox Brother #3)
Author: Jamie McGuire
1st Date of Publication: May 31, 2015
ISBN: 9781511847506
# of Pages: 270
Genre: New Adult, Adult Romance
Age Rating: 17+ (Language, Violence, Sexual content)

Buy it on Amazon

Book Description: 
Falyn Fairchild can walk away from anything. Having already left her car, her education, and even her parents, the daughter of the next governor of Colorado is back in her hometown, broke and waiting tables for the Bucksaw Café. After every shift, Falyn adds to her shoebox of cash, hoping to one day save enough to buy her a plane ticket to the only place she can find forgiveness: Eakins, Illinois.

The moment Taylor Maddox is seated in Falyn’s section at the Bucksaw, she knows he’s trouble. Taylor is charming, breaks promises, and gorgeous even when covered in filth—making him everything Falyn believes a hotshot firefighter to be. Falyn isn’t interested in becoming another statistic, and for a Maddox boy, a disinterested girl is the ultimate challenge.

Once Falyn learns where Taylor calls home, everything changes. In the end, Maddox persistence is met with Falyn’s talent for leaving, and for the first time, Taylor may be the one to get burned.

Setting: Colorado Springs, Colorado and Eakins, Illinois in the 21st century
Point of View: 1st Person- Falyn Fairchild

Goodreads Rating: 4.08

My Rating: 4.35


Part of the Book that Caught My Attention: Both title and cover
View on the Cover: Why is the woman's hair on fire? Is she giving up her life?
View on the Title: Can a sacrifice really be beautiful when it's going to cause pain and suffering? What kind of suffering and sacrifice can be beautiful?

Pros:

• The main characters are a really interesting mix.
• Don't let Falyn Fairchild fool you. She is not very nice to men interested in her, but she is really great as a waitress. She is sweet, caring, and extremely hard working to the point where she refuses to take any short cuts for her personal mission, which is to go to Eakins, Illinois.
• Taylor Maddox is the perfect package. He's very attractive, successful, and a hotshot firefighter, or someone who fights extremely dangerous wildfires. He has his eyes set on Falyn and he is relentless in becoming closer to her. It's really endearing to read.
• This book really gets at your heartstrings. Falyn's past has more heartbreak in it than the other Maddox boys' women. Falyn's past truly speaks to why her current circumstances are so drastic from what they could be.
• The mystery compels you to read more. Why does she live a life of "rags" when she grew up in "riches?" Why does she hate her parents so much? Why is she cold toward men who are attracted to her? Why is she dead set on going to Eakins, Illinois?
• The secondary characters really add to the story. They provide a lot of depth to Falyn's character as she sometimes holds back information that is vital to know how the story will unfold.

Cons:

• It seemed like there lacked some depth in Taylor's character. If you don't love Maddox boys, then this series will seem slightly repetitive when it comes to the Maddox men.

Jamie McGuire's Website:

http://www.jamiemcguire.com/

Other Recommendations:

Beautiful Oblivion by Jamie McGuire
Perfect Chemistry by Simon Elkeles
Easy by Tammara Webber

Review Wednesday: The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin

Title: The Aviator's Wife

Author: Melanie Benjamin
1st Date of Publication:February 15, 2013

ISBN: 9780345528674
# of Pages: 416

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Rating: 13+

Buy on Amazon 

Book Description:

For much of her life, Anne Morrow, the shy daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, has stood in the shadows of those around her, including her millionaire father and vibrant older sister, who often steals the spotlight. Then Anne, a college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family. There she meets Colonel Charles Lindbergh, fresh off his celebrated 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. Enthralled by Charles’s assurance and fame, Anne is certain the celebrated aviator has scarcely noticed her. But she is wrong.

Charles sees in Anne a kindred spirit, a fellow adventurer, and her world will be changed forever. The two marry in a headline-making wedding. Hounded by adoring crowds and hunted by an insatiable press, Charles shields himself and his new bride from prying eyes, leaving Anne to feel her life falling back into the shadows. In the years that follow, despite her own major achievements—she becomes the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States—Anne is viewed merely as the aviator’s wife. The fairy-tale life she once longed for will bring heartbreak and hardships, ultimately pushing her to reconcile her need for love and her desire for independence, and to embrace, at last, life’s infinite possibilities for change and happiness.

Drawing on the rich history of the twentieth century—from the late twenties to the mid-sixties—and featuring cameos from such notable characters as Joseph Kennedy and Amelia Earhart, The Aviator’s Wife is a vividly imagined novel of a complicated marriage—revealing both its dizzying highs and its devastating lows. With stunning power and grace, Melanie Benjamin provides new insight into what made this remarkable relationship endure.


Setting: Early 1920s-Mid 1970s, United States (Mostly)

Point of View: 1st person- Anne "Morrow" Lindbergh

Goodreads Rating: 3.87

My Rating: 4.0

 

Part of the Book that Caught My Attention: Both

View on the Cover: The woman on the cover shows that she is a strong and independent person. She also seems to know her way around an airplane and looks at home. The era seems to early to mid 1900s.
View on Title: The name seems pretty classy with high status. It seems like a very defining title.

Pros:

• This story is on the verge of historical nonfiction, but the characters might not have said or acted in a certain way in their every day lives. The author, Melanie Benjamin, used her creativity to enhance the characters and bring some reason to their reactions in history.
• All the main events, such as the abduction of the Lindbergh's son and Charles Lindbergh's antisemitism, are real and recorded in history.
• I enjoyed this because the story is about a real American woman who has made history. Anne Morrow Lindbergh may have been born and married into fame, but she set her own path. She became an author, mother, and an aviator.
• Anne is the second daughter of her wealthy political family so she is not expected to marry anyone of too much importance. All she wanted was to marry the hero, which she managed. Or did she? That's the question the reader constantly thinks about as he/she reads her story.
• The issue of whether women need men to be their heroes in order to feel complete. Women can make their own choices and be their own heroes.
• Charles Lindbergh's character has always seemed like a tortured soul with all the fame and loss he has dealt with alone and while being with Anne.

Cons:

• At times I felt like both Anne and Charles seemed very robotic and almost inhuman.
• I felt that the flashbacks to 1974 when Charles was on the verge of death were a little redundant because not much was said until the very end. Many things kept getting repeated, which annoyed me as I was reading the story. It made me want to read when times were better for Anne and Charles.

Critics' Reviews:

"Benjamin, author of the highly acclaimed Alice I Have Been (2010) and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb (2011), delivers another stellar historical novel based on the experiences of an extraordinary woman. In this outing, she spotlights Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of wildly famous Charles Lindbergh and pioneering aviatrix and accomplished author in her own right. Though their courtship is the stuff of every girl’s romantic fantasy, time and reality combine to reveal a much different story. Plagued by tragedy and often stifled by her domineering husband, she eventually manages to carve out a quasi-independent life and career for herself. Fictional biography at its finest; serious readers may want to pair this with the recently published Against Wind and Tide, the sixth and final volume of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s copious letters and journal entries"— Booklist
“Utterly unforgettable.”— Publishers Weekly
“An intimate examination of the life and emotional mettle of Anne Morrow.”—The Washington Post
“[This novel] will fascinate history buffs and surprise those who know of her only as ‘the aviator’s wife.’ ”— People

Melanie Benjamin's Website:
http://melaniebenjamin.com/

Other Recommendations:

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Children of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek